Duracell has launched a new line of Duracell Portable Power Inverters and Duracell Laptop Power Adapters for this year in 2011. The new portable power products include a first to market advanced USB 2.1 Amp charging ports available on power inverters and laptop power adapters. For today’s power-hungry USB electronic devices, recharging can be done twice as fast for iPads, iPods, tablet PC Pads, e-Readers, and smartphones with the new 2.1 Amp USB charging port.

The new Duracell Portable Power Inverters include the Mobile inverter 30, Mobile Inverter 100, Pocket Inverter 100, Pocket Inverter 175, and the Power Inverter 130. All of the new Duracell power inverters come equipped with AC to DC power, 2.1 Amp port charging capacity, high-quality cooling technology, low fan noise, and efficient power. Other competitors use 1 Amp USB ports, loud cooling fans, and low quality power inverter technology that can bring an unsatisfactory consumer experience.

The Duracell laptop power adapter family now offers the Universal 90-Watt AC Adapter and the Universal Energy Efficient 90-Watt AC Adapter. These new laptop power adapters meet strict EnergyStar efficiency requirements with a 90 percent reduction of power consumption over similar laptop power adapters on the market. “Both models include 10 patented voltage-controlling tips to ensure safe, efficient power to all popular laptop models from top manufacturers including Acer, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and more. The additional USB 2.1 Amp power port can simultaneously charge thousands of popular handheld devices.”

The new Duracell Portable Power Inverters and Duracell Laptop Power Adapters will be available to consumers Spring 2011 with a MSRP cost ranging from $29.99 to $59.99 and a full 3-year warranty.

A group of researchers led by Professor Reza Ghodssi at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering, and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, are using the properties of TMV (Tobacco mosaic virus) to help create smaller, more efficient lithium ion batteries.

The virus? TMV is a rod-shaped plant virus that attacks tobacco, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetation. According to the university's press release, the researchers, "mofify the TMV rods to bind perpendicularly to the metallic surface of a battery electrode and arrange the rods in intricate and orderly patterns on the electrode. Then, they coat the rods with a conductive thin film that acts as a current collector and finally the battery's active material that participates in the electrochemical reactions."

The result? Bigger electrode surface area and an increase in storage capacity. This allows a faster charge/discharge time, and gives up to 10 times increased capacity in comparison to your regular Li-Ion battery.

The usage? Professor Ghodssi provides two examples: the first shows the creation of a very miniscule battey that can be used to power wireless sensors networks. These sensors can monitor homeland security, agriculture, and the surrounding environment. A different proejct that Ghodssi's team is working on, focuses on creating increased-sensitivity explosive detection sensors, by using TMV to bind to TNT. (Author's note: Ironically, those two uses seem quite opposite from each other.)

No tomatoes were harmed in the making of this blog post. However, regular Li-Ion batteries are scared to go out of business: adopt one today (not for free) at ebatts.com.

Mophie's been around for a while now, selling cases and external batteries for your iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G, etc. More recently, they've announced that their latest product, the Juice Pack Plus for the iPhone4, will soon be coming in extra colors - Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (seen below). These case-batteries will be available in January, while the plain Black version is already available now.

The Juice Pack Plus has 2000mAh, offering roughly 8 extra hours of talk time (useful in case you're aiming to get the Guinness Record for World's Longest Phone Conversation), or 7 hours of internet use on 3G (much easier than switching over to a desktop or laptop, of course), or 44 hours of extra audio playback. Some would prefer this case over others because of its speaker-rerouting system as well: sound is redirected from the bottom of your iPhone, to the front, offering better sound quality. A USB cable is provided so that you can plug in your iPhone and let it sync/charge without having to remove the case.

A previous product, the "Juice Pack Air" is also available for the iPhone 4G, but doesn't offer as much battery life as the new Juice Pack Plus. Unfortunately, it also does not come in the retro colors seen above (personally, I'd rock the Cyan one).

Honestly though, in case you're looking for a more unique look to your iPhone, and don't ever want to have to worry about your phone dying, this may just be the product you've been looking for. Morphie's website has the full details, and you can order the products directly from there.

Now imagine using this case in conjunction with the umbilical-iPhone-cord - maybe then you'll nab the Guinness Record for Most Unique iPhone Accessories too.

Take your average battery for any electronic device: it lasts for x amount of years, and you can do other things while it is being charged for x amount of minutes or hours. Now remove those years, and remove those minutes and hours of charge-time. What you have is, essentially, a Vanadium Redox Battery.

Referred to as a VRB for short (or "Vanadium Redox Flow Battery" for an even longer name), these batteries are slowly gaining popularity because of their main selling point: they don't lose capacity over time either when idle or when being charged/discharged. In most batteries, the chemical reaction that takes place will erode substances in the battery, or some of the chemicals will be permanently lost via consumption. Since no chemical reaction takes place in VRBs, that possibility of substance-erosion or consumption is eliminated, thus the no-capacity-loss trait. And, also thanks to the battery's nature, the time it takes to charge a device using these batteries is extremely shortened, meaning they can charge products almost instantly (well, in comparison to how long it takes products to charge currently).

Another selling point of VRBs are part of its method of creation: Vanadium itself can be made as a by-product of steel smelter slag. With steel production rising in recent years (and prospects of continued increase in production), the act of creating Vanadium wouldn't exactly be out-of-the-way for companies.

Of course, there's a downside. The average energy density of a VRB is lower than that of most rechargeable batteries (at that size). It's likely that, given time, research, and a bit of tinkering, the average energy density of a VRB will increase over the upcoming years.

Another fun fact: as with most batteries, the bigger the size, the bigger the output. This holds true for VRBs, since they can make use of "storage tanks", which are essentially large holding areas containing electrolytes that can be used in conjunction with the VRB. Think of it as a battery pack...for your battery pack. (I wonder when our battery packs' battery packs will have battery packs. Confusing, much?)

While current use of VRBs are limited for now, they definitely have potential and should at least be interesting to watch over the next few years.

Toshiba has just released three new sets of televisions: the "55ZL800", the "WL700 Series", and the "TV Power Series". While the first two are still impressive, the third one is stirring up a bit of news in the battery world.

The TV Power Series (as seen on right) is available in 24- and 32-inches, comes equipped with an emergency battery pack that can last roughly 2 hours for your viewing pleasure. In addition, there is also a built-in "Auto Signal Booster" that will increase signal sensitivity in normally weak-signal areas.

These three new TVs are being marketed in the ASEAN region (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). The TV Power Series' battery may come in handy here, where power outages and weak signal strength are more common.

Toshiba may be on to something with this television-battery-pack, though. With phones, tablets, and other devices having the capacity to deliver shows just like a TV would, it was only a matter of time before someone asked, "Why not just take an actual TV with you?"

What do a tailgate-party and a margarita-filled beach-vacation have in common? They're both missing a television...but not for long.

That's either a dream come true, or a horribly photoshopped image. Possibly both.